About Health Care for All Colorado

Plan to join HCAC for the

on

Thursday, February 26th,

7:45AM-2:00PM

Located at the First Baptist Church (FBC) 1373 Grant Street, Denver, Colorado 80203

*Please note parking is limited around the FBC; please allow adequate time to find parking

HR676 -- Improved and Expanded Medicare for All for life Re-Introduced!

Rep. John Conyers, D-MI, has re-introduced HR676 -- and on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, HR676 had 44 co-sponsors. Not one of those co-sponsors is from Colorado even though the single-payer movement is alive and well here. Please get on the phone and call your elected officials.

Let's demand that they support HR676 by signing on as co-sponsors. One of our partners, Healthcare-NOW!, has provided this easy way to find your Congressional members. CLICK HERE.

Pictured at the right are Rep. John Conyers and Donna Smith, executive director of HCAC/HCACF. Click on the photo for a fun video look back at one of the many times Mr. Conyers and Donna came together to push for HR676. Let's keep on going.

FROM THE DENVER POST -- Denver Mayor Michael Hancock estimated 30,000-plus gathered at City Park on Monday morning and marched downtown as part of the city's annual Marade. The crowd called — or rather bellowed — for more than just progress in race, marching also for social justice, education reform and healthcare equality.

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In Memory of Dr. Gary Parks,

Our Single-Payer Friend and Advocate

Dr. Gary Lee Parks, 64, of Pueblo, passed away on Wed. Sept. 3, 2014, after battling a rare cancer. He was at home with his family by his side.

Gary was born December 25, 1949 in Lindsborg, Kansas, to James and Betty (Johnson) Parks. A proud University of Kansas graduate of both English and medicine, Gary retained his love for all things Jayhawk, including his wife of 41 years, Pamela. She was his partner in traveling, sailing, sharing great food, better wine, game nights, beating everyone in trivia and showing their children, Eric (Rachel), Ann, and Bethany, how to spoil their grandchildren (Aurora, Ben and Nellie.) Gary’s individual interests included painting quietly, loud music and louder karaoke, and simultaneously golfing and cursing. Forever a student of the world, Gary was never without a new book, from classic literature to modern satire.

He supported many local interests: Pueblo City-county Library, Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, Healthcare for All Colorado, Steel City Artworks, Pueblo creative corridor, and ReVolt. He would encourage you to do so as well. You may find the link for donating in Gary's memory by clicking here: Memorial and Honor Giving to HCACF.

And are you ready for the launch of an incredible year of educating and advocating for health care justice in Colorado?

We are. One single standard of high quality care for all without financial barrier -- single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare for all for life. The reality of health care reform for Colorado and the nation.

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Health Care for All Colorado (HCAC) is a nonprofit organization in Colorado working to:

inform Coloradans about advantages of the (public) single-payer system of financing health care,

create a coalition that will develop strategies for achieving comprehensive, affordable and high quality health care for all Coloradans, and

build a grassroots movement that will campaign for the single-payer system in Colorado, including work to support citizens ballot initiative for 2014 supporting health care as a human right and a public good in Colorado.

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If you would like to join a local chapter of HCAC, click on the "Get Involved" link on the menu bar, click on the HCAC chapters option, and choose a chapter near you. We're always interested in starting new chapters where they are needed, so if you don't see one that meets your needs, let's talk about forming one.

I think the ACA is a great start, but I am unemployed and have been w/o work for five years. I am 56 and caring for an infirmed family member since 2007. Since there are no children in the house, applying for Medicaid is out of the question. Paying into Medicare so everyone is covered is a great idea but it should no longer have “parts”. That I think, has only made it less effective.

Set a price for ANYONE to buy into Medicare……it would shore up this program and at the same time, help those who need affordable healthcare!!! In no time, a majority of Americans would choose this plan……and the Right Wing can keep their own insurance and avoid SOCIALISM!!!

the #HR676 universal hc bill creates 2.6 Million #jobs day one and Trillions in Revenues covers dental eye glasses mental health 2 we have 40 million + infected with parasites and they have no clue as of yet !

Persevere!! Medicare and Socxial Security both took years to pass. We need a rational, single payer plan for the US. Senators have socialized medicine, and while a system like the German model does not, IT DOES cover everybody! We would save $BILLIONS/year and prevent thousands of medical expense caused bankruptcies if we used a sensible model instead of the half-assed hodge podge we have now.

Honestly, do you really think 2 milliion people would leave Colorado? A more important question to ask following your line of reasoning is why would 2 million people leave Colorado? An epidemic? Rampant pollution? And, even in such an extreme example, why wouldn’t a premium adjustment not be acceptable. Right now, you have a kind of national socialism where individuals tie their welfare to a corporation in order to have their health care expenses subsidized…

About fifteen years ago our resort company pioneered COBRA bridging for its seasonal employees, many of whom represent the spine and soul of the winter sports business. Prior to that, many of us went without medical health insurance until the company could pick us up when the winter season came around again. A few years ago, the company rolled back this benefit until it costs far more now [about double] to bridge than it does to go outside and break down the family coverage to find what is economical. When I asked someone in HR why this important benefit had been rolled back, the one line answer I got was, “Obamacare.” That’s nonsense. While not perfect, the Affordable Healthcare law is an important step in breaking the stranglehold insurance companies have over our health care and health insurance system. Why, for example, is it in the public’s interest for insurance companies to be exempt from federal anti-trust laws? The answer can only be, it isn’t. It’s in their interest and that must stop. They can’t have it both ways, claiming a free and competitive marketplace is the American way toward a solution, then rig the system in their favor. Let them compete with the public. In Colorado, if five million people got together and each paid a level premium for universal health insurance coverage, I would bet dollars to donuts we’d soon have a healthy and functioning system that we could all be proud of and would be a model for the rest of our nation.

I have been a trustee on a Health and Welfare Multi Employer Fund for a long time. about a decade. I have watched our costs triple in ten years. We have made major modifications to our plan just to slow down the losses and when we did have one year we actually built reserves and within a year it was upside down again. We are looking at the possibility of taking all of the benefits but major medical away just to keep a benefit of some kind. This is a disgusting problem and this country (USA) should be much smarter about this issue. I applaud Colorado for trying to get a single payer system. Yes it will cost tax payers money but it will save those who are paying for insurance out of their pocket and even those in company health plans a lot of money. It also reduces the possibility of uncompensated health care which means people who go to the emergency room for everything and don’t pay a penny. That costs hospitals a large amount. I did the research 4 or 5 years ago and it cost one hospital in Colorado Springs 84 million dollars in one year. But you know what, the hospital still made money because they accounted for the loss in their budget and raised their rates on those with insurance to cover the 84 million dollar delta. That is just one hospital in one town. Add it up for the state and see what that number looks like. All of that cost gets passed on to those with insurance and that is what is causing the problem. The only way to fix it is to cover everybody. I promise it will cause health care costs to drop. The hospitals won’t have to cover a huge number like what is listed above before they can even make a dime of profit. This should not be a political issue, it should be a social issue. The republicans are busy fighting everything about this because it dings one of their major contributors, health insurance companies. Health insurance companies are like any other business, they do not want to lose their revenue stream, but in this instance it is important that they do for all of our sakes.